Heaven within?

    Now that the dust is settling from the passing of the manmade prediction of the rapture or what I now call Jesus awareness day because so many folks did talk about the subject.  True, the prediction was purely speculation; it made good conversation and some funny jokes.  With that being said, I wish to share a concept that I have been thinking about for some time.  WARNING!  This is just a concept; although, this is thought provoking and something that presents a totally different idea from conventional wisdom, so please read it with an open mind.   

    It began when I was studying about Alzheimer’s disease in my psychology class.  Alzheimer’s is a ruthless disease that robs individuals of their memories.  Let’s face it without memories what is the value of life?  Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases all relate to the loss of neurons in the mid-brain, which eventually prevents the recall of memories.  I feel that a person’s memories are still intact; however, recalling memories is prohibited by the deterioration of neurons needed to transfer memories from storage to working memory.  If fact, I speculate that all of our memories are stored with-in the brain and just because we cannot recall everything does not mean that all memories are not stored or exist.  It is not known what causes the loss of these neurons and the only real cure is one that prevents the loss of neurons, which has not been discovered. 

    After researching Alzheimer’s disease I couldn’t help to ask “why would God allow such a terrible thing to happen to His people?”  If you have been around someone with severe Alzheimer’s it is disheartening and sad.  I believe that no person can figure out God’s plan, but that shouldn’t keep us from trying.  I struggled to find an explanation for the loss of memory, which needs to be called lack of recall to support my theory. 

    Another factor used in the theory development considers the work of Sigmund Freud, who developed theories of conscious and unconscious and insisted that a person could repress traumatic experiences.  Could repression and Alzheimer’s essentially be the lack of recalling memory, not memory loss?  The unconscious is not fully understood; however, Freud argued that it houses our true self and coined the phrase Freudian slip.  Dreams are also associated with the unconscious and are an unexplained event that occurs within the mind. 

    Joining psychology and spirituality is what lead me to a theory that is opposite of what people think about the location of heaven.  If I were to ask you where heaven is would you not think up or outside of your body?  What if heaven was within your mind?  Yes, the answer maybe in not up or out!  Before you close the page and consider me a nut job consider my reasoning.  If this were true, when we die, we would retreat into our unconscious or memories (all the memories of our life are included).  God warns that all deeds good and bad will be judged, how can that happen if we cannot recall what we have experienced?  Have you ever wondered where memories go or what exactly are they made of?  They are invisible just as one’s spirit, but may be one and the same.  If you think the brain cannot possibly store every item experienced consider this; the eye never fills from seeing and the ear never fills from hearing, so why would the mind ever fill of memories?  If this theory is accurate then heaven is within each and every one of us!  Another interesting theory is that our own belief within may be our pathway to heaven, what better way to weed out those that don’t believe?

    I know this is a far-fetched theory with little proof to back it up, but who really knows what lies beyond death or what God’s plan entails?  Either a spirit cannot come back to this world or it is so great on the other side a spirit doesn’t want to come back…I tend to want to believe the later where ever heaven is.